Your epidermis is showing!

[niffer]

Since there doesn't seem to be a thread on skin care (both face and body) yet, don't worry- niffer will not have you forsaken!

Let the Q's and A's and amateur advice commence!!


------------------------------------


I will start:

I'm getting someone to buy me toner for my birthday
The Body Shop - Toners
Aside from the $9 whitening one and the one for old people, which one would you recommend for me?

About my skin-

- I once used a tea tree oil facewash, but it messed me up. I now use a tea tree oil cover stick, and it seems to help blemishes die down as well though.
- I don't wash my face at night aside from makeup removal because it seems to do better if I let it sit in its own oils for a while. My skin has improved after I started doing this.
- My nose used to peel a lot. It now rarely happens.
- In the morning while I shower I use a Noxema face cleanser and a seaweed blackhead wash.
- I have a habit of squeezing acne and scars, so 90% of anything uneven on my face is just scarring =.= a while ago I used vitamin E oil to try and get rid of it, and it was nasty and make the texture of my face all disturbing.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

How often should I exfoliate?

 

[kyuuei]

How often should I exfoliate?

Depends on your skin type. (wonders how much that exact phrase will be used here.) Typically, light exfoliation (like washing with a loofa) should be done like everyday, to push all the dirt off of you. Heavy exfoliation though, maybe a couple times a week.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Cool, thanks.

I've been exfoliating with a cheese grater.

 

[kyuuei]

Cool, thanks.

I've been exfoliating with a cheese grater.

Lmao!! I dunno WHY I bothered attempting a silly question with a serious answer.

 

[niffer]

Edahn, you have beautiful skin. Tell me your secrets.

 

[Martoon]

Edahn, you have beautiful skin. Tell me your secrets.

He just did, didn't he?

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Lmao!! I dunno WHY I bothered attempting a silly question with a serious answer.

It was a serious question! I just bought some exfoliator last week. The cheese grater thing was a joke though.

Edahn, you have beautiful skin. Tell me your secrets.

I never ever exfoliate.

In high school I had terrible skin. I had acne and I used to pick at it. I used oxy, retin-A (more like fuckin'-A! *highfives Martoon*) and nothing really helped. It just went away when I stopped fucking with it and started bathing in bull sperm.

 

[kyuuei]

Blee, I feel you there. I have terrible skin in that department. But yes! Exfoliating totally makes me feel way clean in comparison to just washing with soap.

 

[Lateralus]

In the shower, I usually use some soap. But sometimes I'm lazy and I don't.

 

[bluebell]

So, what is toner actually supposed to do? /serious question, for reals

 

[niffer]

In the shower, I usually use some soap. But sometimes I'm lazy and I don't.

Since when did you become an ENTJ?!??

 

[niffer]

So, what is toner actually supposed to do? /serious question, for reals

It's supposed to get rid of grime/makeup, tighten pores, and normalize the Ph levels of your skin.

 

[bluebell]

It's supposed to get rid of grime/makeup, tighten pores, and normalize the Ph levels of your skin.

*slightly confused* So it has different effects to cleansers?

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Follow up to bb's question, ^^

What's the difference between toner and foundation, and how do they relate to each other?

 

[Mempy]

This is my thread! I just read a really good article on this earlier. It answers a lot of the questions in this thread pretty well, I think. I'm really glad I stumbled it - and that I can put it to use for not only myself, but other people. The bad thing is, reading this makes me cringe at the price and effort involved in maintaining healthy skin. Maybe what Edahn did would work for me. Maybe I could just say, "Fuck it."

Daily Regimen for Healthier Skin

Most women don’t bother looking after their skin until it is too late. By the time you notice the wrinkles, you will have no chance of slowing the aging process. You should start looking after your skin from your late teens, early twenties right up until your hands are too shaky to pick anything up. Start now with a daily regime of cleansing, toning, exfoliating and moisturizing. Once you get use to doing it daily you will feel and look a lot healthier and good about yourself.

Step one -- Cleanse.
Cleansing you skin and removing dirt, makeup and other impurities that clog your skin is essential. You should cleanse your skin at least twice a day with a mild, non-irritating cleanser. Your cleanser should not strip your skin of its natural oils and it should easily rinse away.

Always consider your skin type first when choosing a cleanser. A good cleanser will remove impurities without leaving residue. You should avoid cleansing with soap. This is because skin is slightly acidic and soap is alkaline. This disrupts the skins naturally acidic protective film. Oil based cleansers are suitable for all skin types.

Cream cleansers will suit a dry skin. Smooth on the cleanser and leave it for a few seconds to dissolve impurities. Then very gently wipe it off with cotton wool or damp tissue. When using a wash off cleanser you should apply it to damp skin and then remove with warm water.

Step two -- Tone.
Using a toner rehydrates, cools, nourishes and refreshes your skin. Toners remove any remaining traces of dirt, makeup or oil your cleanser may have not removed. It's good to use a toner that is alcohol-free, as alcohol may dry your skin.

Step three -- Exfoliate.
Exfoliating gives the skin a healthy glow and gets rid of the spots that tend to make you look sallow and your skin blotchy.

Exfoliants help remove dead cells that accumulate on the surface of your skin. Make sure the exfoliant is not granular so you do not damage new skin. An exfoliant can be as simple as a face cloth or as high-tech as the latest serums containing AHAs.

Step four -- Moisturize.
Just as the rest of you body requires hydration and nutrients, so does your skin. Your skin should be treated with a daytime moisturizer that provides a broad-spectrum sunscreen daily. At night, using a more intense moisturizer helps to rebalance and normalize your skin as you sleep.

There's no rule that says you have to use moisturizer all over your face; you may just need a light eye cream and a bit of moisturizer on your drier cheek area.

All skin has its own natural moisturizing factor that regulates water flow from the dermis to the surface. Sebum also helps by forming a barrier on the skin that prevents moisture loss. As we grow older both of these however decrease in activity and therefore we need a water regulating moisturizer. All skin types really need moisturizing twice a day.

You should be careful to choose a moisturizer to suit your skin type. For oily skins oil free formulas and oil in emulsions. Water in oil formulations suit dry normal skin. You should always sprits your skin with water before applying moisturizer. Water plumps up the skin cells creating an even surface making lines less apparent.

Link

 

[booyalab]

Most women don’t bother looking after their skin until it is too late. By the time you notice the wrinkles, you will have no chance of slowing the aging process.

but do any of the steps you mention actually slow the aging process? I highly doubt it.

I don't believe most of the claims on beauty products that supposedly have functions beyond cleaning and clearing away dead skin cells. (Just try to make me say "cleansing" or "exfoliating"...dammit.) Moisturizers provide a film that temporarily holds existing water in your skin, but they don't hydrate you. And I tend to dismiss everything else that "nourishes", "hydrates", "refreshes", "reverses aging", "natural", "organic", sciency sounding buzzwords like "cellular level cleansing" and "regeneration" and medical sounding prefixes like "micro" and "bio", and those are just the tip of the iceberg. The marketing bullshit is pervasive.

 

[Tallulah]

The Patricia Wexler moisturizer from Bath & Body Works is great if you have dry skin, like I do. I can hardly ever find a moisturizer that doesn't irritate my skin and that hydrates it enough. I also recommend the Cream Bar from Origins. And I've used Ponds Cold Cream to remove my makeup at night for years. If you have dry/sensitive skin, the less you do to it, the better.

The most important thing you can do, though, is get enough sleep and water, and take your makeup off every night. And don't ever, ever tan on purpose. Wear sunscreen and stay out of those awful tanning beds.

Bluebell--toner is sort of an unnecessary step. You can use it if you like it, but I've never found that it did anything a cleanser/moisturizer combo didn't do, and it doesn't really take the place of either. I always felt like it was just a waste of money.

Edahn--Toner is part of the cleansing process. Foundation is makeup. It's just the base that goes on all over your face to even out your skintone. They are unrelated.

Random tip: If you have large pores, doing a glycolic acid peel a couple times a month can really minimize the look of them. Loreal makes one, and it's a good one. (And no, it doesn't hurt.)

 

[Bella]

Kiss My Face products.

THE END.

 

[Mempy]

Yeah, I'm skeptical about the age-prevention thing myself; I thought about leaving that opening paragraph out, but thought it better to preserve the whole post for some reason; honesty? Otherwise, though, I thought it sounded informative.

What's the difference between hydrating and temporarily holding moisture in the skin? The marketing is definitely pervasive and most of it is exaggeration or outright lies, but I have to say, my moisturizer really does feel refreshing.